On Wednesday, March 11, six high school teams from around the world competed in the Student Impact Challenge at SXSW EDU, pitching service projects to a panel of Gen-Z changemakers. Aneesh Bondugula and Eve Ang from Singapore, as well as Armaan Shahpuri from Austin, won the contest for their non-profit, Immunova AI, which uses artificial intelligence and medical data to improve cancer detection and diagnoses.
The Daily Texan sat down with Bondugula, Shahpuri and Alex Quian, a youth empowerment leader with The Allstate Foundation, to discuss how to engage young people in their communities.
The Daily Texan: Why is it important to get young people involved in community service and leadership?
Armaan Shahpuri: (The youth) are not built into the existing norms of society. They’re more adapting to change. They’re more willing to push the system to its limits.
DT: What inspired you to work on this project, improving cancer treatment?
Aneesh Bondugula: Immunova AI is one of the only youth-led health tech startups. The reason we chose such a niche field is because we believe that youth don’t really have a voice in health care right now because of how technical a field it is. … I was a volunteer at a hospice (facility). Everyone there (was) undergoing end-of-life treatment. The treatment decision support really was not there yet. … My co-founder, Eve, started this project because her own mom was diagnosed with cancer. We had our own personal reasons that really took it from a research project into a community-led deployment.
AS: I had a teacher a while ago who had breast cancer. Seeing that made me actually want to do something in the world.
DT: What obstacles do students and other youth typically face when trying to lead these kinds of service projects, and how can they overcome those challenges?
AB: We (faced) a lot of barriers along the way, (such as) people not trusting us because of the fact that we are youth. A part of our project is that we need to be able to partner with hospitals, with researchers, with people in the industry. … We’ve had so many people slam their doors in our face, so what we really learned is about perseverance.
DT: What is your advice for college students and other young people looking to make a change in their communities?
AB: One thing that youth do well is that we’re able to find our own communities and create community-led impact. Once you create a group of people that you trust and all have the same vision, it becomes a lot more easier.
AS: Another big thing is the ability to take risks. … Everything you do, there’s going to be some risk associated with it, and that tends to be the biggest blocker in (the) minds of youth.
Alex Quian: Even though sometimes it may not feel like it, there is always going to be a teacher or a trusted mentor or someone else who’s willing to support the work that you do. It’s certainly important to have those kind of people in your corner.
